A Thief's Heart Preview
by JohnPCooper
Summary: Taking place only 6 months after the conclusion of Sly 4, the gang is still in mourning over their best friend and Carmelita is heartbroken over her missing lover when a mysterious man shows up in Paris. Join the gang one last time as the fate of the Cooper gang is decided. Work in Progress


Ch.1

Bentley

It's been 6 months since we lost Sly to that damn blimp. Alot has changed since then but at the same time it still felt like yesterday. Usually one would expect by this time that we would have been able to move on by now but no one really has. Me, Murray, especially Carmelita, we we all still remember the day like it was yesterday. I still expected him to show up at the door with his signature cocky attitude, but he never came. Carmelita kept up her crime busting spree on the job but when she was off she came to our Paris hideout just so she wasn't alone. Recently she would even sleep here in Slys room. She acted tough around the clock but anyone who really knew her could tell that all the intimidation was just a cover up. He was hurt badly and it broke her heart to know that Sly was gone forever. Dimitri and the others from all of our previous adventures were throwing around the idea of having a funeral, to "put his memory to rest" they said. None of us really wanted to do it but we all knew that it was the right thing to do. Sly deserved that much. I made the call to everyone on a rainy night of June that we would start planning the funeral.

It's ironic that this was the night when my defensive surveillance instruments notified me that there was a very particular unconventional vehicle patrolling the streets near our Paris safehouse. It had no license plates r any other form of identification and looked like a cross between a sleek supercar and a dune-buggy lifted about a foot off the ground. This car would seem to be just driving randomly to any random observer but upon mapping all of its previous routs, it had been taking the same 3 routes on a 3 day rotation before starting over again over the last 3 weeks. This alone normally wouldn't trigger my sensors but what did was every 45 minutes exactly it would pass by the safe house, each time on a perpendicular side. Whoever was controlling it was stalking us. We watched the cameras for about an hour and a half wondering what it was doing until it suddenly stopped in the middle of the street on the part of the road closest to the front door of the hideout. Everyone gathered around the computer monitor that had a live video of the car. We didn't know what to think as it just idled there without any lights on and its blacked out windows. We could feel the low rumble of its powerful engine like it was waiting for something to move so it could pounce on the hideout. Then suddenly it tore off with the speed of no vehicle I had never seen before and the sound of a jet engine but no screeching tires on the pavement. It just vanished as though it was never there.

We just stayed in place for a while, still feeling its lingering presence, half expecting it to barge in through the door. We waited for about an hour for it to return, silently moving about as not to give away our position. After about an hour and a half the tension finally lifted, litting it sink in that although that car was unusual, it was gone for now and there was no point stressing about it unless it came back. But then it did and this time it parked across the street from the hideout front door. I got back on the computer, Carmelita grabbed her shock pistol and Murray put on his gloves and got ready for what may end up being a fight. We waited in tension as the engine turned off and a tall man in a black rain jacket stepped out of the left side of the car. The car must have been from the West since all European vehicles had the drivers side on the right. He pulled a duffel bag out of the car and walked up the steps and to the door and knocked. No one dared move as he just stood there and waited in the pouring rain. We held our breath letting the air grow still with the mystery of who the man was. The door had a camera on the side that was meant to be able to identify anyone at the door but his face was hidden by the hood as he just stood there like a ghost. And what was in the bag? Anyone who spent this much time looking for us must have a mission of some sort.

Finally he broke the silence with a calm, but confident voice, "Bentley, Murray, I have something that can help you with Sly."

The mere mention of Sly's name sent a shock through the air and made us look at each other as though trying to comprehend what had just been said through our thoughts. It sounded too good to be true. Part of me wanted to let him in to hear him out, another part suddenly got angry. 'How dare he mock us with false hope of seeing our friend again.'

As if on cue, Carmelita shot up and went to the door with smoke coming out of her ears. She tore the door open and aimed the pistol in the stranger's face.

"What do you want?" she yelled in his face. The reaction left us in shock at her spontaneousness. But still, Sly meant a lot to her, and hearing his name again definitely triggered her and for that I wasn't too surprised. Despite this, the man only barely shifted back in response and maintained his posture.

The man shifted the bag to his back and put his hands up calmly and waited a moment to speak. "I have something that can help you find your friend Carmelita, I know where he is."

We all paused for a moment in disbelief at his statement, he not only knew who we all were, but he says he knew when Sly traveled to that night when the blimp disappeared. Carmelita let his guard down slightly, at the thought. But there was so much that wasnt adding up. I came out from behind my computer and wheeled myself into the room behind Carmelita.

"Who are you and why are you stalking us? And how do you know where Sly is?" I questioned.

"I'd be happy to answer all your questions but there's a lot to tell. A bit more than what's appropriate on a doorstep," he replied.

"Ok then, sit at the table and don't touch anything." I ordered.

He pulled off his hood revealing himself to be a Siberian tiger and did as he was told as we all sat around the table across from him. He gently pulled the bag off his back and placed it gently on the table. We all listened in suspense as he explained himself. His name was John Puller and his family had been passing along a letter for thousands of years. The letter originated in Egypt and was written in a language no one could read at the time. It was considered sacred and encased in glass and was passed along through the centuries until it was sold the the Greeks and from there sold on the Silk Road where it made its way to China. There it was traded around until it made its way to his family who at the time were wealthy Chinese merchants. It stayed in his family as an heirloom to this day but still, no one was ever able to read it. It wasn't until his ancestors moved to the US in 1919 and they started to learn the English language that the letter was finally interpreted. It was a message from a man who was sent back in time. It told the future. Up till the night of the incident with the blimp that vanished over Paris and then the predictions stopped. Since then he had been trying to find the true Cooper Gang over all the false posers who took the name for themselves.

"You;'re good at hiding. I'll give you that." He said, "but here we are."

Finally he unzipped his bag and pulled out a pristine letter covered in writing, encased in glass and placed it on the table. "This is it." John slid it over to me.

I just looked at him with shock. The fact that his outrageous story actually had proof was incredible but most importantly, it gave me hope that we might see our friend again. Before I could get a good look at it, Carmelita took it and started aggressively reading it. She looked at me with a hopeful look of disbelief and handed me the block of glass. I read every line, front and back and I could see why. It was not only Slys handwriting but there was also a timeline of our adventures. Everything From the Orphanage to the day he disappeared. And after everything it gave specific instructions as to how to find the hideout. At the bottom, it said 'Bentley and Murray, I know you can do this, To Carmelita, I love you.' I could see why Carmelita is freaking out now. It's probably all she can do to keep herself from breaking down.

It was definitely him. There was no doubt about it. I immediately brought it in my room and put it in a machine to scan every inch of it and find out when exactly Sly is. I felt bad for Murray, he wanted to see what was written as much as any of su did, but I couldn't risk losing our only lead to him accidentally dropping it. I printed out a copy for him to read and returned to the other room. But there was still something missing. One factor that just didn't quite settle right.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked him. I didn't know what I expected him to say. Maybe there was something in it for him or maybe we had done something to wrong him and he just wanted to taunt us with the prospect of seeing Sly again. He paused.

"One of my ancestors met one of Sly Coopers' ancestors. Rioichi I believe was his name. Rioichi saved his life at some point and the two became friends." John explained, "he showed him the letter and upon seeing Slys name, he made my ancestor to promise to deliver the message when it was time. All this time later, he remembered that promise. So for me it's a matter of fulfilling that promise."

I didn't know what to make of his story but it was all we had. If we had any chance of seeing Sly again then we would need to trust him. But if he was lying, Carmelita would likely kill him. If she didn't, then me or Murray would do it.

That was a week ago. John had allow us access to his resources, which were quite impressive, and we were able to upgrade our gear and get outfitted for the ancient Egyptian time period so we could blend in seamlessly with the natives. John had volunteered to come along too saying 'it would be cruel to give you a lead without the resources to pursue it.' Had it been anyone else I might have refused, but John was a valuable asset in the field. John might not be Sly, but he was an experienced stealth tactician who specialized in covert operations. We needed his skills until we got Sly back.

Sly

It's been 6 months, I think, since I crashed here in Egypt. Since I've been here I've been absolutely miserable in this barren, desolate wasteland. Of course that's a total exaggeration, it's not that bad here. I mean the first few days really sucked but only because I was trudging through the desert in the hot sun with no food or water. After I found my way to a building near a pyramid I saw off in the distance when I first arrived with the blimp. The locals were friendly enough as they gave me food and water for a few days but I guess they called the authorities on me because it wasn't long before four guards showed up at the door asking for me. I debated running but I was in no shape to do so and if I did then I would have a bounty on my head before I even knew why they wanted me. So they brought me to a palace before their pharaoh, Slytunkhamen Cooper. Apparently he himself had seen me in the desert and personally sent a patrol to look for me. When they didn't find me they kept searching until they found me in that house I ended up at. He wanted me brought in about my cane because it resembled his so much. Apparently he had turned the cane into a symbol of his rule over ancient Egypt in this time period. So I handed it over to him and told him who I was, that I was his descendant from the future, and that he was stranded.

I didn't think he would buy the story, for very good reasons, but he did. And for the past 5 months I had been staying with him in his royal palace enjoying all the amenities of being the pharaohs favorite guest. The food looked strange at times but it was exotic nonetheless. We had been debating methods that I could use to communicate to my friends in the future and at one point I said jokingly, 'why don't I just write them a letter and say it was me.' We shared a laugh for a moment but then he said it wasn't such a bad idea. He recommended writing a letter in a way that whoever I was writing to would know that it was me and he would have his men encase it in a shell of sealed glass. So we did that and the pharaoh deemed it a 'sacred object' not to be disturbed. And as of now sits in my personal quarters sitting in a table as a decoration for now, but I knew that one day it could find its way to my friends. I pray that it would because despite all the luxury, I missed my friends, Murray and Bentley. I would lay in bed at night and think of the adventures that we had shared together. All the good, the bad, I missed them. But what really broke my heart was the thought Carmelita, maybe never seeing her again. All those years of just messing around and having fun but I never realized just how much I wanted her to be in my life. I would give up everything just to see her again, thieving, living outside the law, all of it. Just to live a happy life with her is all I could ask for. It was on these nights that I would grab my cane and climb up to the top of the palace and just look over the horizon, across the city and imagine myself back in Paris with Carmelita in her apartment before all of this time travel ruined it all. Back when I was truly happy with the woman I loved. I never slept those nights.

It was ironic that it was on one of those nights that I saw a familiar flash of the time vortex from the old van off in the distance. It was far away but it was a big blue van in the middle of ancient Egypt with its headlights on at night. It was hard to miss. My heart was doing somersaults in my chest. I couldn't believe it worked that fast. After all, the letter was only made a few days ago. I could go back home? See my fiends? And Carmelita… I wondered how she handled me being gone, and my heart dropped at the thought that she might have moved on. I thought about it for a minute. 'Why don't you ask her yourself?' I said to myself. I climbed down from the roof and started preparing my things to leave. But I could have never predicted what happened over the course of the next few days. A man came. Those who witnessed him dubbed him Apep, or Apophis, the Egyptian god of chaos and darkness.


End file.
